Ready for another adventure?!

Good morning my faithful followers! Thank you so much for your prayers and love these past couple years. For those of you who have been following me and loving on me since I began my adventures to Australia and Thailand, here we go again! For those of you just starting to follow me on this new adventure to South Korea, thank you for joining me! Like before I will be using this blog as a way to give glory to God for all the things He is doing in my life, introduce you to a part of the world you may not have been to yet, and just generally clear my mind of all the crazy stuff I am going through. I hope you will feel free to read or skim these entries as you are interested and above all pray for me!

So what am I doing exactly? As some of you may know I am pursuing a teaching certificate from Western Washington University with an endorsement in Teaching English as a Second Language. This endorsements requires me to teach English for a quarter in a classroom of English Language Learners (ELLS). Now, most of my peers choose to do this quarter in a community college classroom in Bellingham but me being the overachiever I am, I opted to do this quarter abroad. From March 23-June 4 I will be studying and teaching at a university in South Korea.

The Sejong Campus of the Korea University is located in Jochiwon, South Korea roughly two hours from the capital city of Seoul. My understanding of what the University and the city of Jochiwon is very sketchy so I will fill you in about that once I am over there. For now here is what I know. I will be living in the dorms with a Korean roommate. I will be teaching up to 16 hours a week in a classroom and two English cafes on campus. I will be taking classes online through Western so I can get credit for the cultural and teaching experience I am having and I will be waiting on God to see if this might be a country He will send me to in the future as a teacher/missionary.

I must report a blessing right off the bat;I get to go on this adventure with a friend! A dear Christian friend is in the same program as I am and we decided to go on this adventure together. She and I will be flying, teaching at the same University and exploring South Korea together. The thought that I am not doing this alone again, is so very reassuring!

I am sorry the details are so sparse at the moment. I will flesh them out further once I get over there but for now, let me close with a bit of my heart going into this adventure. God started an amazing process in my heart during my mission trip to Australia and Thailand in 2007, but that’s what it is, a process. This past quarter I have been convicted of how small my view of God is. I have been reading through the Old Testament and the awesome power of God unleashed is written on every page. However, when I compare that to my current view of God I see how frequently I rationalize God’s power in my life as natural happenings or circumstances. I hate this view I have of Him! Once again, I am comfortable in my American life and don’t see God as the necessity that He really is. My favorite Psalms says “I have seen you in your dwelling place, beheld your power and your glory… (63:2) I have seen God in His awesome power but how quickly I am to rationalize,” well that was then and this is now, I have to do it myself today.” I know beyond a doubt that these next couple months will provide the perfect opportunity to rely fully on God for my everything and I would ask for your prayers that this lesson stay with me when I return stateside.

Thank you again for joining me on this journey and I look forward to the struggles, challenges, and goodness of God I will be able to share with you!